


Second day of Huntbastian week: Not Like Me

by CecilieFred



Series: Huntbastian week [2]
Category: Glee
Genre: Love, M/M, Merman!Sebastian, ptsd!hunter, soldier!hunter, tw ptsd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 00:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1919283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CecilieFred/pseuds/CecilieFred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Huntbastian week. Day 2: Not Like Me AU.<br/>Hunter comes home from war, and goes to the aquarium, here he meets the merman Sebastian, and the two of them form a rather unusual friendship.<br/>Loosely based on concepts from The Little Mermaid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second day of Huntbastian week: Not Like Me

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies if this is not that great. I had like 5-6 ideas running through my head at once, and this is sort of what I ended up writing… The things written in italics are their thoughts, or something that is being said in their heads.  
> EDIT (14/11-2014): I am currently writing on chapter 2 of this story, and I'm so sorry that it took so long, I have been very stressed, please bear with me, I promise the next chapter will be up before December! (or I hope so... I'm so stressed with school.. I'm sorry)  
> Also, thank you so much for all the love and thank you to those who have written to me, both here and tumblr, wanting more. I love you guys! <3

If someone a year ago had told Hunter that he would meet the love of his life through his work, and that the love of his life would be none less than a mermaid – correction; **_merman_** – then he would have laughed that person straight in their face and called them insane, but when Hunter first met this magical creature, then he fell in love on the spot, he just wouldn’t admit it.

When they first met, Hunter had just returned home after six months in Iraq. He had changed a lot while he was there, but one thing hadn’t changed, and that was his unusual need to go to the local – and huge – aquarium once a month. His mother had sent him a letter while he was gone, telling him that the aquarium had gotten this new creature that she thought he would be interested in. Hunter was curious, so the first day he was back he went there, and what caught his eyes were the huge banners and signs, saying: ‘ _Mermaid discovered’, ‘Mermaid caught’,_ and _‘See the living mermaid here’_. Hunter didn’t really believe it, but he chose to examine it either way. He knew that things like that was usually just lies, one time he had seen a ‘unicorn’, which was actually just a horse with a small bulge on its forehead, but maybe this time it was different.

To Hunter’s big surprise then the mermaid was actually real, and then it wasn’t in fact a mermaid, but a merman. What surprised him even more was that the room was almost empty, apart from a few kids that ran around, playing loudly while their parents were just sitting on a bench, talking. No one paid attention to the beautiful creature in the aquarium, and that made Hunter wonder just how long he had been there. He asked the guard, who told him that the merman had been there for four months, but people didn’t find him interesting since he never did anything else than look sad. He didn’t even eat – which made Hunter slightly worried, because such a beautiful creature shouldn’t be starved, or starve himself. Slowly Hunter approached the aquarium, but instead of standing there and stare at the creature like a normal person would, then he sat down in front of the aquarium, pulled out a block and pencil, before he started drawing. He sat there for three hours, not moving at all, and in the end the creature got so curious about Hunter that he moved towards him, making himself fully visible.

At full view then the creature was even more beautiful, although way too skinny. He had a long shining green tail, which matched the emerald green eyes, and the chestnut brown hair. Something about his face made Hunter think that this guy was once someone who smiled a lot, but now he seemed nothing but sad.

“Hello.” Hunter greeted the creature, and for a second he thought the creature would answer, when suddenly a kid slammed both hands against the glass, screaming so loudly that she scared away the creature.

“Daddy!! The mermaid moved!! I saw him!!” she screamed and Hunter had to restrain himself from yelling at the child. _Such wild and untamed children shouldn’t be let loose_ , he thought to himself. _Don’t people raise their children anymore?_

The kid stood there screaming for about fifteen minutes before the father finally left with her, leaving Hunter completely alone in the huge hall, or not exactly alone since the mermaid and the other aquariums were there as well.

“Stupid brat…” Hunter mumbled to himself as he continued to draw, his hand so steady and calm that people who saw him like that probably wouldn’t believe that he suffered from PTSD.

“ _What are you drawing?_ ” a voice suddenly sounded and Hunter jumped up, looking around with panic in his eyes. His fists were clenched and he seemed ready to punch someone, before he remembered where he was, and as he looked around, he realized that he was still alone.

“That’s weird… I could’ve sworn I heard someone.” he mumbled and was just about to sit back down, when he saw the merman right in front of him, the only thing between them being the glass.

“ _You did hear someone._ ” the voice spoke again and Hunter now realized that the voice belonged to the merman, only his lips didn’t move, and as Hunter listened then he noticed that the voice was inside his head.

“How do you… You’re in my head?” Hunter looked terribly confused as he picked up his block, showing the drawing to the merman. “I’m just drawing from my memory… It helps me relax.”

“ _Why are there people on the ground? They look… dead_.” the merman stared at the drawing, then at Hunter. “ _You’re a soldier. You have those tags around your neck. I’ve seen them on soldiers before… the ones that took me away… have you come to take me away as well?_ ”

“No… I’ve just returned home, and, I wanted to see what all this fuss about a mermaid was.” Hunter smiled sadly and packed the drawing away along with his gear.

“ _Merman… You seem sad? Did something happen?_ ” the merman swam a bit closer, his hands pressing against the glass.

“Yes, but… I don’t like to talk about it,” a sigh and Hunter shook it off, moving his eyes over the mermaid in front of him. “What’s your name?”

“ _Sebastian. And yours?_ ” the mermaid seemed generally interested in him, which surprised Hunter, but either way he was polite and told the mermaid his name.

“Hunter Clarington.”

“ _Hunter… I like that name. It’s strong, just like you_.” for some reason that comment took Hunter by surprise and gave his cheek a slight pink color, which made the mermaid – Sebastian – smirk.

“Thank you… The guard told me you’re not eating. Why?”

“ _They only feed me fish food. It tastes terrible. I need meat_.”

“Like, fish?” Hunter reached into his backpack. “I have some tuna that my mother gave me?” Sebastian did a small loop at the mention of tuna and pressed his hands harder against the glass.

“ _Please… I’m starving…_ ” he begged, and the pleading tone in his voice made Hunter laugh.

“Alright. I’ll give it to you. I just have to get up that ladder.” he pointed to the back of the aquarium and Sebastian swam that way, then up to the top of the aquarium, clearly already waiting patiently for the food. Hunter climbed the ladder and now he was face to face with Sebastian. He held out the box of tuna, after having opened it, so Sebastian could eat it, and it barely took the mermaid seconds to empty the box.

“You sure were hungry.” Hunter laughed.

“Yeah. Thank you.” this time the voice wasn’t inside Hunter’s head.

“You can talk.” he said surprised and swore that he saw Sebastian roll his eyes.

“Of course I can talk. I’m not that different from you, you know.” he said and rested his arms on the edge of the aquarium, which brought him even closer to Hunter. “I like that smell… do you wear cologne?”

“How do you know?” Hunter raised an eyebrow. “What kind of creature are you?”

“Merman. And you’re not the first human I meet, but you sure are the most attractive one.” a smirk and Sebastian licked his lips, which made Hunter’s heart do a jump that scared the hell out of him.

“I’m straight. Not even remotely bi-curious.” the words simply slipped from him before he could stop himself. That sentence was so well-rehearsed that Hunter had actually started to believe it himself. His dad had always told him that being gay was wrong, and that if Hunter ever as much as kissed a guy, then he would no longer be a part of the Clarington-family – that’s what happens when you come from a military and religious family.

“Easy big guy. I’m not trying to flirt with you.” Sebastian rolled his eyes again and splashed with his tail. “I’m just saying you’re not like everyone else. That’s it.”

“Sorry… It’s just… No, I’m sorry. I overreacted. It’s been a long time since I was with anyone else than my comrades.”

“You’re forgiven. If you bring me some more tuna, or anything like that tomorrow.” a smirk and Hunter looked a bit puzzled.

“You expect me to come back?” he asked.

“Do you have anything else to do?”

“No.”

“Then yes. I expect you to come back.” a sigh, then Hunter smiled.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow. And don’t forget the tuna!” Hunter laughed and jumped down from the ladder. As he left the hall then he noticed Sebastian waving at him from the aquarium, and he shortly waved back before he could no longer see him. When he returned to the outside, then he had a small smile on his face and something deep inside of him was looking forward to return the next day.


End file.
